. >> todd akin at it again, new comments from the senate candidate put the gop back on the defense. hello, everyone. i'm alex witt in for thomas roberts. we'll get into the akin impact. tick-tock with 35 days to go. a new round of polling shows president obama now leads in nine key battleground states that could decide the race for the white house. the president holding a razor-thin edge over romney in north carolina and nevada. he leads by seven points by romney's home away from home, new hampshire. those poll numbers causing the clock to tick and grow louder thousand. the first debate is five days away. >> do you think that he has the ability as a -- >> having debated him 15 or 17 times, yeah. >> he's a pretty good debater, isn't he? >> he's a better debater than any of the nominees on the ticket. >> how much will the debates matter? with iowa one of 30 states castingle balan casting ballots by the end of the month? >> do you know that mccain beat obama on election day, and obama got it in early voting. >> things can change overnight with a great debate performance, but again, mar